1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to conveyor belts, more particularly to conveyor belts having rollers that provide material handling functions such as product diversion, sorting, singulation, separation, orientation, and acceleration. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved conveyor belt apparatus that employs magnetically actuated rollers that rotate to perform a selected material handling function.
2. General Background of the Invention
Conveyor belts are used to move articles, packages, food items, machine parts, and the like from one locale to another, such as within a factory, plant, manufacturing facility or the like. In some cases, it is necessary to transfer a package, article, or other item from one conveyor belt to a discharge point or from one conveyor belt to another conveyor belt. There are many such material-handling functions associated with conveyor belts.
Patents have issued that are directed to conveyor belts having special material handling functions. Some patents listed below use magnets to hold a conveyor down in turns or for tracking (i.e., keeping it from sliding to one side or the other). The TABLE is a listing of examples of such patent documents. The listing is in numerical order. Otherwise, the order of listing has no significance. The following U.S. Patent Publications are incorporated herein by reference:
TABLEU.S. Pat. No.TITLEISSUE DATE3,179,240Belt Conveyor and MagneticApr. 20, 1965Training Means4,892,186Clock Conveyor Provided with aJan. 09, 1990Plurality of Entrainment Members5,394,991Conductive Material Sorting DeviceMar. 07, 19956,085,896Chain Conveyor Track of High-GradeJul. 11, 2000and Low-Grade Plastic6,129,201Curved Element for Magnetic ChainOct. 10, 2000Conveyor and a ConveyorComprising Said Element6,155,406Magnetic GuideDec. 05, 20006,494,312Modular Roller-Top Conveyor BeltDec. 17, 2002with Obliquely-Arranged Rollers6,510,941Device for Sealing Lateral EdgeJan. 28, 2003Areas of an Endless Conveyor Belt6,968,941Apparatus and Methods forNov. 29, 2005Conveying Objects2007/0221472Systems and Methods forSep. 27, 2007Diverting Objects7,360,641Conveyor Belt Having RollersApr. 22, 2008That Displace Objects